This new 11-song record sees Sammet, among the most talented and popular names in German hard rock and metal, reunited with some familiar faces from previous Avantasia albums. These include original Queensrÿche lead singer Geoff Tate, Pretty Maids frontman Ronnie Atkins, Michael Kiske of Helloween, Jørn Lande (Masterplan/Millennium), Eric Martin (Mr Big) and Magnum’s Bob Catley. ‘Moonglow’ also introduces new collaborators Hansi Kürsch of Blind Guardian, Kreator’s Mille Petrozza and Blackmore’s Night frontwoman Candice Night in truly spectacular fashion.

Sammet began work on ‘Moonglow’ two years ago, following the completion of the previous Avantasia tour. A constant collector of musical ideas, Tobias used the time offered by a blank schedule to expand upon those existing kernels of songs and build upon them, allowing the music to really percolate.

“For the foreseeable future none of my bands were scheduled to do anything but an anniversary celebration of Edguy,” he recalls. “For the first time I had no deadline or contract… nothing. I was completely free. The plan was to take a break, but the freedom I found presented me with more and more ideas. The material had time to grow. It was a very relaxed way of working, especially because with the help of Sascha Paeth [co-producer and long-time Avantasia cohort] I had built my own studio which helped me to work at my own pace whenever I came home from creative breaks in England, which I found to be extremely inspiring.”